Two-year-old logistics startup, Flash Express, has reportedly raised a sum of $200 million in a new financing round. The initiative comes as part of the company’s plans for doubling down on a rapidly growing market augmented by demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Komsan Lee, the CEO of Flash Express, the company has planned to utilize these funds towards the introduction of new services and business expansion to other markets in Southeast Asia. The company is also prepared for the creation and development of new technologies for the achievement of greater logistics and delivery efficiency, added Lee.

Flash Express operates door-to-door delivery and pickup service and reportedly claims to be the second largest private player operating in this space. The company also has Alibaba as an investor and had reportedly entered the market with low delivery fees of 60 cents for every parcel, a decision that allowed the company in rapidly winning a remarkable market share.

For the uninitiated, Flash Express presently delivers over 1 million parcels on a daily basis, up from almost 50,000 during the same time the previous year. The company intends to assist SMEs in reducing their investment costs and believes that this would provide long-term benefit to the overall Thai economy in the era of digitalization, stated Lee.

The startup has made heavy investments in technology, allowing the company to handle more than 100,000 parcels every minute by complete automation of sorting systems.

The funding round was reportedly led by PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited, with participations from Krungsri Finnovate and Durbell, two top conglomerates in the Southeast Asian region, bringing the startup’s till date raise to about $400 million.

Rajsuda Rangsiyakull, the SVP for Corporate Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability, Retail Business Public Company Limited, has stated that organization intends to strengthen Flash Express’ logistics network as it eagerly looks ahead to meeting the increasing demand from customers.

Source Credits:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/11/thailand-flash-express-funding-round/